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President Donald Trump early Friday tweeted a short montage of his three predecessors voicing support for Jerusalem to be recognized as Israel’s capital.
The tweet carries the caption, “I fulfilled my campaign promise — others didn’t.”
The tweet follows intense opposition to the move — voiced by Arab, Muslim and European critics — which would upend decades of U.S. policy and risk potentially violent protests.
Trump has also promised to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
The tweet includes clips of former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama and indicates the year of each clip.
Clinton is seen in 1992 saying, “Jerusalem is still the capital of Israel and must remain an undivided city accessible to all.”
Bush is seen in 2000. “As soon as I take office, I will move the United States ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital,” he says.
Obama is seen in 2008 saying, “I continue to say that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel. I have said that before and I will say it again.”
The controversy surrounding the move of the embassy dates back decades. A law passed in 1995 under the Clinton administration considers Jerusalem the capital, and even mandates the move of the embassy there.
But the law allows for a loophole used by former presidents — an option to issue waivers every six months to delay the move from Tel Aviv.
The U.S. would be the first country to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. Other countries who have diplomatic relations with Israel keep their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Trump said he will instruct the State Department to begin the multi-year process of moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city, U.S. officials said Tuesday. It remained unclear, however, when he might take that physical step, which is required by U.S. law but has been waived on national security grounds for more than two decades.
Administration officials said Tuesday that Trump will still sign a waiver to keep from jeopardizing State Department funding while the relocation process begins.
In January, Republican Sens. Dean Heller, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz introduced legislation calling for the embassy to be moved to Jerusalem and recognizing the city as Israel’s capital, after the Obama administration abstained from a U.N. Security Council vote to condemn Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank.
